My City Council colleague, Jim Rogers, asked me to post the following on the E-FORUM:

Look at almost any media these days, and there are numerous articles about various efforts to go green and clean.

Thanks to the unanimous support of the Richmond City Council, future Richmond elections have been made a lot cleaner and greener. Starting with the November 2008 election, candidates will have receive matching public financing of up to $25,000. 

 
The Council has voted to provide clean public matching funds to Mayor and Council candidates, because the Council was united in protecting the integrity of our elections: preventing well heeled special interests from defeating candidates who stand up to them; avoiding the appearance, or reality, of undue influence due to campaign contributions; and freeing up candidates to concentrate on talking to voters, not special interests.

 
Based on the last election, this measure would cost about $37,000/year. Considering that the Council routinely deals with campaign contributors who have tens of millions, and sometimes hundreds of millions at stake in City decisions, this is a small price to pay to reduce special interest influence.

Having sponsored a successful statewide political reform initiative (Prop 105), and having been Vice-Chair of California Common Cause, I have watched a lot of elected bodies refuse to pass a lot of political reform laws. One basic reason is that they won under the old rules , and are therefore reluctant to change the rules they won under. Much to the Council's credit, they stepped up to the plate to change the rules of the game for the public's benefit, in spite of political risk to themselves.

If you wish to thank the Council for cleaning and greening Richmond campaigns, please feel free to email to citycouncil@intres.com.

If you have other thoughts on improving Richmond's campaigns, please feel free to contact me.

Jim Rogers
510.867.5725
elirapty@aol.com           

Chapter 2.43 MATCHING PUBLIC FUNDING OF RICHMOND ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

2.43.010 Purpose.

2.43.020 Qualified candidate.

2.43.030 Matching fund formula.

2.43.040 Use of matching funds.

2.43.010 Purpose.

In order to protect candidates from huge, unlimited independent expenditure campaigns and in order to encourage candidates to run who don’t have access to large campaign contributions or personal wealth, this chapter establishes matching public funding of Richmond mayoral and council campaigns.

2.43.020 Qualified candidate.

A candidate for Mayor and City Council of the City of Richmond shall be considered a “qualified candidate” and shall be approved to receive public matching funds if the candidate meets all of the following requirements:
(1) The candidate files the following “public funding request” with the City Clerk:

“I request public matching funds for my campaign and agree to the City of Richmond’s conditions and requirements on the use of such funds.”

(2) The candidate is certified to appear on the ballot for the election for which matching funds are sought and the candidate is opposed by at least one other certified candidate for the same office.

2.43.030 Matching fund formula.

(a) Matchable contributions are those contributions disclosed on the candidate’s regular campaign disclosure statements required by the State of California and the City of Richmond disclosure statement which is due on the last Friday before the election. Disclosures required by the State of California for late, large contributions do not increase or decrease the match i.e., the match is based solely on the disclosures in the regular campaign statements.
Loans and in-kind contributions are not matchable contributions, nor are contributions received prior to July 1 of the year in which the election is held.
(b) Once the candidate files the “public funding request,” the City Clerk shall disburse funds to qualified candidates as follows:
(1) When $15,000 total in matchable contributions are disclosed - disburse $5,000.
(2) When $20,000 in total matchable contributions are disclosed - disburse $5,000.
(3) When $25,000 in total matchable contributions are disclosed - disburse $5,000.
(4) When $30,000 in total matchable contributions are disclosed - disburse $5,000.
(5) When $35,000 in total matchable contributions are disclosed - disburse $5,000.
(c) Accordingly, the limit per candidate is $25,000 in matching funds per election. The City Clerk shall make every reasonable effort to have the check available for the candidate to pick up at the City Clerk’s office at noon three (3) business days after the filing deadline. If campaign disclosure statements are filed late, the candidate has to wait for the next filing statement to receive matching funds. If the final statement is filed late, the candidate does not get matching funds for that statement.

2.43.040 Use of matching funds.

Public matching funds may only be used for lawful qualified campaign expenditures incurred by a candidate during the election for which the funds were allocated.
(Source: Ordinance No. 18-03 N.S.)